Real Esteli goes undefeated in second stage with victory over Stingers

MIAMI (United States) - Real Estelí stayed undefeated thanks to a fourth-quarter push as they took down Edmonton Stingers 89-73 at Polideportivo Alexis Argüello on Sunday night and moved to 2-0 in the second stage for Group A.

Starting out hot, unlike they did the day before, Stingers relied on Chad Posthumus once again to make an impact as he was one of the bright spots the previous game as he continued to be a threat offensively, efficiently finding the rim shooting 75 percent for 6 points, while also grabbing the boards for his team.

 

It was Alexander Campbell who made the biggest impact with nine points in the quarter, as Stingers lead Real Estelí 25-16 after one quarter of play, sitting comfortably despite Ismael Romero playing tough in both finishing shots – scoring 7 points – and also in rebounding.

While the competition stayed closer in the second quarter than the first, Stingers held a 15-point lead going into halftime as they continued to seamlessly make shots fall, something they had struggled with against Cangrejeros, and lead 46-31 with Posthumus already tallying a double-double by the half with 12 points and 10 rebounds and Campbell adding another 8 points to tally 17.

Even with the scoreboard and the momentum against them, Real Estelí came out of the half on a mission to continue to fight which is exactly what they did by knocking down a series of jumpers in succession while forcing Stingers to turn the ball over to cut what once was a 19-point deficit to just two points heading into the final ten minutes of play.

Outscoring Stingers 22-9 in the third, three different Real Estelí players scored in double-digits as Romero and Rigoberto Mendoza led the team with 14 points each while Jezreel De Jesus, a pillar on Real Estelí’s offense, added 11 as well.

Holding Posthumus to just two points in the quarter and Campbell to just one was a key to crawl back for Real Estelí, even managing to keep Murphy Burnatowski who was hot off the bench to just four points as well.

While Stingers attempted to keep their lead, the dynamic duo of Renaldo Balkman and Alexander Franklin were too much to contain as Real Estelí’s well-rounded bench continued to dominate and not only take the lead but outscore Stingers 34-16 to stay undefeated.

Real Estelí dominated in all areas of the game especially in the fourth quarter but managing to get points in transition and from turnovers while playing physical in the paint allowed them to not only make a comeback in the second half but to secure the win with a full-throttle effort right until the end while Stingers ran out of gas.

 

De Jesus led Real Estelí in scoring with 21 points while Romero scored 20 points and 9 rebounds and Mendoza tallied 19 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals in a team performance that allowed Real Estelí to secure the victory.

For Stingers, while Campbell finished with 21 points and Burnatowski added 17 total, with only Posthumus going scoreless in the fourth and only one other member of Stingers scoring more than five points in the game, they could not outlast the strength of Real Estelí and hang on for the win.

FIBA